Education

Tetra Tech Planning acts for public and private education clients to secure planning permissions for new and expanded school facilities in primary, secondary, further, higher and special education.

Educations represents one of society’s cornerstones for sustainable economic growth, with high-quality educational facilities having become a pressing priority for the UK. According to UK Government estimates, 880,000 more school places will be needed in England before the end of 2023 . Meanwhile, the number of young people expected to attend university is growing over time.

At Tetra Tech Planning, we continue to expand our portfolio of successful educational projects with an extensive track record in securing planning permissions for school expansions, new builds, or alterations to existing education facilities.

The UK Government gives ‘great weight to the need to create, expand or alter schools’ and the importance of ‘providing a sufficient choice of school place’s in the National Planning Policy Framework NPPF para 94 . This is reinforced by Written Ministerial Statements that seek to increase supply and improve the school environment for current and future pupils and students.

We excel at securing planning permission in very challenging environments – including new schools in the Green Belt, schools on Metropolitan Open Land within London Boroughs, and expansions in Conservation Areas and other heritage assets.

Work on challenging schemes has included extensive public consultation and preparation of Statements of Community Involvement and addressing the Planning Committee. Backed by our in-house multidisciplinary team, the support we give our education clients draws on expertise in ecology, landscape, flood/drainage engineering, geotechnical, and transport.